Jack Warner: Hosting Senior World Cup Is The Next Step For Egypt
Stefan Coerts, Goal.com
18 minutes ago
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Exactly three weeks later from the media conference which took place the day before the FIFA U-20 World Cup Egypt 2009 began, FIFA vice-president Jack Warner expressed his opinion on the hosts' organisational skills at a news conference in Cairo.
"Egypt hosted a FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1997. Egypt are now hosting a FIFA U-20 World Cup, so by a series of a natural progression it seems that a senior FIFA World Cup would be a logical step. Egypt has the stadiums, it has the facilities, it has the tourist attractions, it has the passion for football," said Warner.
"From my point of view, there have not been many negative points. For me the only negative points have been the fact that Egypt were knocked out in the Round of 16, that my team [trinidad and Tobago] did not last long - and that I will be going home on Friday.
"We've been pleased to be here over the past month. In many ways, this has been a record-breaking tournament and one of surprises. In Canada, during the 52 matches, 1.19 million spectators attended. With two matches to go we stand at 1.15 million, so there is a distinct possibility that that this tournament will be bigger in terms of spectators.
"The highest number of goals scored at a FIFA U-20 World Cup was at Malaysia 1997 with 165. We have equalled that already and only six goals need to be scored to break Qatar 1995's record of 3.28, the tournament's highest average to date," he concluded.